Surfing with Onions….
Posted by Jason on
February 21, 2008
A growing number of people, concerned about personal privacy and security are opting to get off the grid but that’s always been a bit difficult with the Internet. It knows where you are, and what you are doing, but there are ways to become totally anonymous.
One way is to use TOR, or The Onion Router. It’s a network of virtual connections or relays, dotted around the world, operating in complex ‘layers’ (that’s where the Onion bit comes in) that stops you from being identified or tracked when you are online. Ironically much of the development work for TOR was sponsored by the US Naval Research Laboratory but now it’s gone independent, and it is free to use. All you have to do is download a piece of software, which handles your connection to the network, and the encryption of data, and you are in business. It’s an ongoing project, and there are still a few wrinkles and speed issues – you may notice a slowdown on your browser — but if you are exchanging or downloading sensitive or private material and want to be invisible then give it a try, but read the overview and introduction first.
